Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from a 1966 North Atlantic Cruise

Mechanical bathythermograph data from the LUYMES cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean, processed to the NODC C128 standard format. The dataset captures temperature-depth profiles at 5-meter intervals down to a maximum of approximately 285 meters. It was collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during a specific voyage from July 5 to July 21, 1966.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term temperature variability in a specific region using cruise date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating models of upper ocean heat content with historical in-situ measurements.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal and spatial context with cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• Limited vertical coverage, with a maximum observation depth of ~285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Conflicting metadata exists: one platform lists a last updated date of 2026-04-01, while another shows the original data date of 1966-07 21.
• Key technical details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1966-07-05 to 1966-07-21

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:03:06.521584

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean